hatboyzero

I've held my tongue regarding my purchase so far, but I do have to agree that this is all a little bit less than professional (from both sides). Granted, the consumer has no implicit obligation to be professional about this - the customer is always right, and all that jazz.

Anyways, we're sitting here on the seventh business day after orders have been placed, not a single customer (to my knowledge) has any idea where their order is and when it should arrive. Meanwhile, the seller has been either unable or unwilling to disclose the status of said orders - it matters little to me (and likely everyone else) whether or not this is intentional.

The question here to ask is this:

what can be done about it right now?

It is fairly apparent that the customers' hands are tied - there is no meaningful communication of the status of the order to the customer by the seller - the entire stock of televisions could be teetering on the peak of a mountaintop in the Himalayas for all they know. In short, the customer here is, in effect, an unintentional hostage to the situation.

So that begs the question, what can the seller do here to salvage the situation. I'd like to think that eventually all customers will receive their orders - this is, in fact, expected via the unspoken contract implied when the order was placed: The customer pays the seller with the expectation of receiving the desired product in a timely fashion. This unspoken contract, at present, has already been breached, even in light of the inconveniences imposed by recent natural disasters. Even after the customers receive their orders, they will likely be disgruntled due to the experience, resulting in lost business...

So I ask again... What is Woot able and willing to do to salvage this situation right this moment?

Just my two cents - take it for what it is, or don't take it at all. It matters little to me... :-)

jaidyn

hatboyzero wrote:So I ask again... What is Woot able and willing to do to salvage this situation right this moment?

Simple, they're willing to tell us to suck a fat one because durrr hurricane sandy.

BS excuse if you ask me.

Anyways, I had this wonderful dream last night that my TV arrived in the mail. And then I realized it was a dream, because well, we all know woot won't be shipping these out for atleast another month.
And of course after realizing I was dreaming, I went full lucid.

So I guess I can thank woot for one thing. Making me have a lucid dream, from realizing that my TV was never actually going to show up in the mail.

hatboyzero

cadpigjr wrote:I would think we should deserve a discount, a discount on a future buy, or some other reward for our lack of info time.

Agreed.

cadpigjr wrote:I am not leaving woot or anything myself, though this is not coloring my opinion of the company very well.

I'm not leaving either - my track record regarding Woot has actually been stellar up to this point. Regardless, without making a wholehearted attempt to salvage the situation in a reasonable fashion, it will make me think twice before making a significant purchase in the future; not to mention that this situation without appropriate reparations will likely drive away what might have become loyal repeat customers for years to come...

mccarthy2007

BeadingFool

hatboyzero wrote:I've held my tongue regarding my purchase so far, but I do have to agree that this is all a little bit less than professional (from both sides). Granted, the consumer has no implicit obligation to be professional about this - the customer is always right, and all that jazz.

Anyways, we're sitting here on the seventh business day after orders have been placed, not a single customer (to my knowledge) has any idea where their order is and when it should arrive. Meanwhile, the seller has been either unable or unwilling to disclose the status of said orders - it matters little to me (and likely everyone else) whether or not this is intentional.

The question here to ask is this:

what can be done about it right now?

It is fairly apparent that the customers' hands are tied - there is no meaningful communication of the status of the order to the customer by the seller - the entire stock of televisions could be teetering on the peak of a mountaintop in the Himalayas for all they know. In short, the customer here is, in effect, an unintentional hostage to the situation.

So that begs the question, what can the seller do here to salvage the situation. I'd like to think that eventually all customers will receive their orders - this is, in fact, expected via the unspoken contract implied when the order was placed: The customer pays the seller with the expectation of receiving the desired product in a timely fashion. This unspoken contract, at present, has already been breached, even in light of the inconveniences imposed by recent natural disasters. Even after the customers receive their orders, they will likely be disgruntled due to the experience, resulting in lost business...

So I ask again... What is Woot able and willing to do to salvage this situation right this moment?

Just my two cents - take it for what it is, or don't take it at all. It matters little to me... :-)

well said...

my dismay at this whole situation is evident, but what I have not shared is that I ordered a quantity of grocery and cleaning type items online from a certain big name major retailer on the exact same day I bought this TV from woot...

my order was shipped to me(free shipping)from hurricane ravaged New York no less and with tracking info given to me within 24 hours... unfortunately the shipping service mishandled the heavy box and it was smashed in transit and two items equaling about $25 went missing before the box was taped up and sent on to me... upon delivery I contacted the retailer and told them of the situation and they offered an immediate refund or to reship the lost items at no cost to me.

I needed these things so I asked for them to be replaced, and I have already received one of the replacements and the other is on the way and should arrive within the week... and I can track it!

I did not have to lose sleep or beg or whine or anything... they just have fantastic customer service and I will gladly buy from them and recommend them in the future...

meanwhile, I am still waiting for any sign that my woot TV is not actually being shipped from the factory in China on a sailboat lost in the same hurricane...

midnightslide

Just received a sincere, unprompted response from Woot customer service:

"Dear midnightslide,

We try very hard to stay ahead of issues, but almost no one could predict the trouble Hurricane Sandy would cause. We don't want to make light of the situation on the East Coast so we're just gonna say this one straight: your 32" 720p Philips LCD HDTV has been delayed in shipping from our vendor because of the trouble with the storm.

We've been told the TV should be shipping in the next day or so, and we'll send you tracking as soon as we have it. We're sorry that you have to wait, but we promise: that TV should be in your arms very soon. Thanks for your patience, for real. It's appreciated.

All the best,
Woot.com"

The response does make me feel like someone over there actually cares, and it is genuinely appreciated on my end. However, the situation still leaves a very bad taste in my mouth, considering the time that I am going to have to wait for the TV to get to me once it does actually ship.

I agree that something needs to be done to remedy this situation. Whether that come in the form of a partial refund, credit on a future purchase, or something else, it will need to be somewhat substantial. As mentioned above, there are other retailers that have taken the storm in stride, and managed to take care of all of their customers. Tracking info was issued, and people have received their goods. Here we are, 7 business days later, without tracking info or a definitive date when our product will actually ship. Completely unacceptable.

ahmahler

Here is my email:
We try very hard to stay ahead of issues, but almost no one could predict the trouble Hurricane Sandy would cause. We don't want to make light of the situation on the East Coast so we're just gonna say this one straight: your 32" 720p Philips LCD HDTV has been delayed in shipping from our vendor because of the trouble with the storm.

We've been told the TV should be shipping in the next day or so, and we'll send you tracking as soon as we have it. We're sorry that you have to wait, but we promise: that TV should be in your arms very soon. Thanks for your patience, for real. It's appreciated.

midnightslide

ahmahler wrote:Here is my email:
We try very hard to stay ahead of issues, but almost no one could predict the trouble Hurricane Sandy would cause. We don't want to make light of the situation on the East Coast so we're just gonna say this one straight: your 32" 720p Philips LCD HDTV has been delayed in shipping from our vendor because of the trouble with the storm.

We've been told the TV should be shipping in the next day or so, and we'll send you tracking as soon as we have it. We're sorry that you have to wait, but we promise: that TV should be in your arms very soon. Thanks for your patience, for real. It's appreciated.

BeadingFool

jaidyn

ahmahler wrote:I may have my timeline confused, they did know about Hurricane Sandy last week, right?

That's exactly what I was going to say. Did they not know about hurricane sandy while it was happening? And they couldn't have told us "Hey, our vendor is on the east coast. Or atleast that's the lie we're telling you all. Your shipment will be delayed indefinitely."

cblazejak

Yeah I would have appreciated this email a lot more if we had gotten this last week. I feel that they knew this information and were with holding this information until they dug themselves so deep, they had to give us something. Who knows if this is just another lie, so sad.

jaidyn wrote:That's exactly what I was going to say. Did they not know about hurricane sandy while it was happening? And they couldn't have told us "Hey, our vendor is on the east coast. Or atleast that's the lie we're telling you all. Your shipment will be delayed indefinitely."

Rudy45

I received the same message as everyone else, that "your 32" 720p Philips LCD HDTV has been delayed in shipping from our vendor because of the trouble with" Hurricane Sandy. But my shipping notice indicates that it has just been shipped from Albuquerque, NM, which was not exactly in the eye of the storm, so to speak. Woot has definitely disappointed me on this one.

cadpigjr

Rudy45 wrote:I received the same message as everyone else, that "your 32" 720p Philips LCD HDTV has been delayed in shipping from our vendor because of the trouble with" Hurricane Sandy. But my shipping notice indicates that it has just been shipped from Albuquerque, NM, which was not exactly in the eye of the storm, so to speak. Woot has definitely disappointed me on this one.

I was also noticing that it came from that area (texas for me, but currently in NM) woot looses points for the reasons as to why it was late.

BeadingFool

and I still have no info at all... no emails that they have somehow miraculously either cancelled my order or found my TV and shipped it to me after all... no tracking info... mine is still "awaiting shipping"...

and now IF it ever arrives at all I will probably have to keep it, because even though I am really sad and so frustrated with this whole thing, and every time I see that TV I will remember what a hassle it was buying it from woot... I would, at this point, be stupid to return it if I actually ever get it and it is all working and all, because then I would have to wait even more weeks for it to return to wherever it is coming from... and to see if I actually do get a refund for it... and now I can't really trust woot to do that... so...

All I really wanted was a good deal on a low end refurbished TV... I would have been happy to wait for it if I had not gotten so much lack of communication and then a lot of lies and misleading information... This should have been a simple purchase that would have made us all happy wooters for a long time and instead it has just soured woot for a lot of us, and for our families and our friends...

and in all of this I have not asked for anything extra as some have... all I ever wanted was some straight answers and tracking info on my purchase... but now I agree... we have been lied to all around and we should at least be given a partial refund or something for all of this... But I don't want any credit to be used on a future order... because that will definitely not be happening...

hatboyzero

Meh, sadly, I will be returning my purchase after I receive it. Given my own personal circumstances, I could not wait for it to arrive (new apartment with kids coming over to visit - no television equals no video games for my spawn and I).

That being said, I'll likely remain a loyal Woot customer - as I mentioned, my prior experience with them has been stellar, and I've already received purchases from Woot made after this one, with everything arriving in a timely manner and in working order...

To surmise, everyone makes mistakes - even Tesla got things wrong occasionally. It's how the effect of that mistake is managed after the fact that really speaks to the character of an entity. In this instance, I'd have to give Woot a D minus in regards to how they managed this particular kerfluffle, but it is what it is.

If Woot were smart, they'd perform a post-mortem analysis of this order and use it as a case-study of how and how not to manage a similar situation... Just sayin' :-)

ultrevex

Rudy45 wrote:I received the same message as everyone else, that "your 32" 720p Philips LCD HDTV has been delayed in shipping from our vendor because of the trouble with" Hurricane Sandy. But my shipping notice indicates that it has just been shipped from Albuquerque, NM, which was not exactly in the eye of the storm, so to speak. Woot has definitely disappointed me on this one.

cadpigjr wrote:I was also noticing that it came from that area (texas for me, but currently in NM) woot looses points for the reasons as to why it was late.

Did it not occur to you guys that these are probably now shipping from a different vendor?

BeadingFool

ultrevex wrote:Did it not occur to you guys that these are probably now shipping from a different vendor?

no, you can't have it both ways...

maybe they are coming from a different vendor, but as we have been led to believe that they were too deep into the shipping process from the northeast to change or cancel the shipping orders that were already placed on them, how can they change that now?

I remember someone here saying how these were deals that just come up as they happen, so if woot had more available from another vendor and they knew there would be a delay last week from one vendor in the northeast, then they could have just ordered from the other vendor in the first place and not lied to us at all or maybe, just maybe... they could have just told us there was a delay in the first place...

I think we all would have been pretty understanding if we had heard that in the first place and not just been ignored or told a bunch of lies that changes every day...

jaidyn

I shouldn't have to worry about my item arriving 3 weeks later, when I'm on vacation. And now I do. Really, I'm leaving for vacation on the 19th. And since you refuse to give me a refund, please for the love of god, just ship me my tv before the 19th so some punk ass kids don't steal it off my porch.

[edit] INTERESTING, I JUST NOTICED SOMETHING. Check out the people who already had theirs shipped. They've all ordered quite a few things from woot, and got their tracking today.

dkowal

Received (finally) an email from woot and also received a UPS update that the package is to be delivered this Friday. Funny thing is: Woot has been blaming the delays on the hurricane, but the package just left Texas. Texas is no where near NJ or NY. If the package just left TX, a full week after the hurricane came, how on earth is this related? ---- i think the sandy stuff was just an excuse. IMO. At any rate, thank god i didn't need the product right away or anything. I have plenty of TV's. Will wait till Friday. Just a heads up.

BeadingFool

Now mine seems to have been picked up by a twister or something from that hurricane in the North East and blown all the way to Mesquite TX and ... Oh my! no doubt powered by flying monkeys it has landed on a UPS truck that somehow will arrive here by the "end of days" on Friday...

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